Wednesday, September 19, 2018

This school year, my daughter's private school,
decided to utilize a new laptop program centered around ChromeBook
laptops made by Dell. Most public schools in South Carolina have
embraced this program over the last few years. The main sales pitch is
that deployment doesn't require the use of "IT professionals" and that a
tech savvy teacher with little networking knowledge can manage the tech
fleet easily - all while staying in close contact with the students for
homework help, reminders, and parent information.

"Charles Schwab (a Chrome Enterprise
customer) rolled out more than 1,000 Chromebooks in less than 2 months
using Chrome Enterprise Management. Everything worked right out of the
box without the need to bring in IT to install any software or manually
customize settings on each device."

- from Google Partner Agosto, Debunking the 5 Most Common Chromebook Myths

The
internet, as searched by Google, maker of the Chromebook and ChromeOS
underpinnings, is littered with shill articles as the top results
praising the Chromebook's merits. Of course it does! And, when schools
and school districts are searching for less expensive, easier to manage
solutions for tech in their schools - what search engine do they use?
I'd venture to say, "Google".

Not using a knowledgeable and
talented IT professional to fix and maintain your network and security
of information is tantamount to saying a trained school resource officer
is unneeded to protect the physical security of the children. Think
about that each time you see a school resource officer.

If
you're familiar with ChromeBook hardware, these are very plasticy,
flimsy terminals that run Google's operating system called ChromeOS.
ChromeOS is based off of the Chrome browser - a competitor to
Microsoft's Internet Explorer/Edge browser, Apple's Safari, and
Mozilla's Firefox.

As a 25 year networking and IT
professional, I have never recommended anything outside of Apple
hardware for security reasons. Apple's Safari browser for computers and
phones is very secure as well. But, different needs call for different
uses of hardware. I also understand usage preferences. If one of my
customers needed to use Windows, I recommended the FireFox web browser.
For continuity, I recommend Firefox usage on Apple products as well.
However, in nearly every case that a Chrome browser was installed on any
of the various hardware I've serviced in the last 10 years since the
Chrome browser first came into being - there have been major security
concerns with malware, adware, and spyware. It seemed none were caught
by common use viral protection.

"Furthermore, the Chromebook is everything a government watchman could
want—even without Google Apps data and Gmail, it could give those with
network monitoring capabilities a way to pinpoint the location of a
credential-holder.

Chromebook plus a government-forged Google certificate equals a man-in-the-middle attack
against the SSL security of Google's services—and a way for the
government to read all of your e-mails and documents as they pass back
and forth through an Internet choke point to and from your browser.

None of this is necessarily Google's fault. But it's a weakness of the
browser as platform—by pushing nearly all the computing resources for
applications, besides presentation, back up into the cloud, the
Chromebook model creates a one-stop shop for attackers or observers to
inject themselves into your computing world. ... Chromebook is unique in its tethering to a single set of cloud services
over web protocols. When used with the best practices for web security,
the Chromebook is secure against most direct attacks on the local
hardware and the Chrome browser, but its dependence on a web-based
backend where US courts have already ruled there's less of an
expectation of privacy is something no amount of end-point security is
going to fix."

From Daring Fireball

Google can make
all the positive claims it wants about security of Chrome, ChromeOS, and
ChromeBook hardware, but be careful about their argument that privacy
and security are not intertwined. Security goes hand in hand with
privacy. Google is first and foremost a marketing company. Google
collects data. Google sells data. They market their services as free.
Remember the saying about free lunch? (if not, Google it
...) Google sells to the highest bidder, the lowest bidder, and even
shares some data freely - personal data - with marketing partners and
"researchers" to learn how to market to you even more. Our children
aren't just being sold out to the lowest bidder for theirs AND OUR adult
information - but being sold out to almost anyone that asks - above
board or unscrupulous.

Google executive Eric Schmidt, said in 2010 that Google’s job was to “get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.” ← that’s a very creepy thing to say.

The ChromeBook, ChromeOS, and
Android OS and hardware is in and of itself - one giant data collection
experiment - perpetrated by by the biggest behemoth in advertising
history. It's also one giant social engineering experiment with one
goal; push progressive ideology and politics.

Dennis Prager claims in an ongoing legal battle with Google owned YOUtube, which has a near monopoly on video sharing services:

"The plaintiff, Prager University, said YouTube’s “animus” toward its
“political identity and viewpoint” led it to curb access to videos,
including through its “Restricted Mode” setting, on such topics as
abortion, gun rights, Islam and terrorism, despite its stated promise of
neutrality"

- Reuters

Recently,
a video leaked showing Google employees upset over the 2016
Presidential Election results. The video also indicated that employees
felt they may not have manipulated results and algorithms enough to push
for Clinton's victory over Trump.

"In the hour-long video, execs including co-founder Sergey Brin, as
well as Google CEO Sundar Pichai, chief financial officer Ruth Porat and
top lawyer Kent Walker, respond to the election with somber tones and
calls for employees not to let the results divide them.

"Myself as an immigrant
and a refugee, I certainly find the selection deeply offensive and I
know many of you do too," Brin, Alphabet's president, says near the
outset of the meeting. "I think it's a very stressful time and conflicts
with many of our values." ... Later in the video, CFO Porat admits to being a Hillary Clinton supporter."

Finally, we come to how I
believe ChromeBooks undermine parental authority and control. Over the
past few weeks, I have been observing my daugther's Chromebook network
activity - logged - as it runs through my router. We found her in her
bedroom late, on a school night, chatting with a friend through the
school advocated chat program that I am unable to block or manage in any
way whatsoever. It further concerns me that while the school may have
filters and firewalls galore to block unwanted content - such as porn,
R-rated content, etc - I cannot reasonably or easily have all those
restrictions for her. While I'm working on blocking certain content from
her specific IP address and to and from (and through) my home router,
it isn't reasonable to think the average parent is going to take these
steps or have the know how to do it.

A little
backstory, we do not afford our 6th grade daughter a cellphone or chat
access on any device in our home - including games. A joint parenting
concern is that her age and maturity are not appropriate at this time to
utilize chat responsibly, but more importantly; safely. Furthermore, as
a parent, I consider the use of technology as entertainment a privilege
outside of school work, a job, or family use. In the modern day, that
means that punishment for chores that aren't done or inappropriate
actions or behaviors, is loss of technology access. I cannot take away
my daughter's Chromebook. I cannot manage it's network access, I cannot
limit email or chat access. I have to make her dock it (while she is not
at school) in the living room and use it in the living room.

As
of yesterday, I have a new concern. (A concern I had not considered.)
My daughter knows I have a few passions; tech, music, and writing. She
called me over to show me how she goes to Youtube, copies the URL for a
music video, then goes to a website where the audio from the video
is converted into a downloadable MP3 to store in a music player on her
ChromeBook. So, now I had to be the buzzkill and explain that I download
music from iTunes and pay for it and that I'd be happy to get her gift
cards to pay for music if she wants. I had to explain to her that
artists deserve compensation for their work - giving the example of "if you created something to sell, would you want someone getting it for free?" Sigh.
The young me loved her even more for showing me that. It reminded me of
myself, standing next to the radio with my finger on the tape record
button - those were the days. The adult me me reads stories about how
people are selectively made examples of by Youtube and the recording
industry - with bankrupting fines and embarrassment. I have personally
seen clients get fined thousands for using unlicensed software.

"Streaming and ripping site like YouTube-MP3 are the latest targets for
record labels which are keen to do everything possible to crack down on
copyright infringement and piracy."

~ Beta News

What is the solution?

Keep
these devices at schools where they can be manged by networking
professionals. Let the parents provide AND MANAGE their own technology
in their homes. It is an unreasonable argument in this day and age to
say you can't afford basic technology - nor is it any business of the
school to determine what a family can afford. I consider it socialism to
determine that all kids must be equal - so says your school.
There is public library access. Internet access has become as much of a
utility necessity as phone access - in many circumstances - internet
access has replaced phone access. But again, its not the school's
business what you make a priority. Your child, or you as a parent have
the right to desire and acquire what is best for your child.

But in the end, are these laptops really even helping at all?

Research by
scientists at Michigan State University suggests that laptops do not
enhance classroom learning, and in fact students would be better off
leaving their laptops in the dorm during class. Although computer use
during class may create the illusion of enhanced engagement with course
content, it more often reflects engagement with social media, YouTube
videos, instant messaging, and other nonacademic content. This
self-inflicted distraction comes at a cost, as students are spending up
to one-third of valuable (and costly) class time zoned out, and the
longer they are online the more their grades tend to suffer.

This
entire article was written by someone with a 25 year networking
background. At the end of the day, I see education costs going up. The
new cost of education is telling our children that cyber security and
personal privacy don't matter.

Saturday, September 01, 2018

Get better fuel efficiency and a cool gauge with a Tire Pressure Monitor System ...

For the past month I’ve been testing this device as a way to maximize my fuel efficiency. Keeping your tires inflated is critical to good gas mileage. I over-inflate because I don’t need great traction. I get decent traction already due to the short wheel base my car - a Scion iQ.

Inner rim valve stem monitors can only alert you if the tire is changing pressure constantly (meaning you are 5psi or more off spec)

The valve cap style measures actual psi to the ½ psi measurement.

The best price can be found on eBay for about $50 shipped.

Retail and Amazon is $80 + shipping.

My research indicates that this particular setup, four tire stem caps and a car 12V cigarette plug called “Carchet” is the best setup with the most reliable readings.

These have a special tool (that comes in the package) required to take them off.

You also must have the reader/display - as these won’t work with any other system - for added security.

[UPDATE] 8/20/18 ... I have since moved to using an aftermarket car stereo attachment known as the iDataLink Maestro. This device attaches to certain modern double din car stereos and displays data coming from your OBDII port. Part of that data was tire pressure monitoring and tire temperature amongst other gauges like speed, RPM, and fuel economy. I still like the Carchet solution but prefer this integrated interface more because I know it's 100% accurate.